The Symptoms of a Hero
by YinTheMoonGoddess
Summary: No one had told them wielding a Miraculous was so hard! Follow Marinette and Adrien as they learn what it means to be fragile and how to cope with the life of a superhero and all that it entails. In other words, a Miraculous Ladybug that realistically portrays the struggles of our Characters and changes the plot accordingly. Slight au, rating subject to change
1. Chapter 1

Marinette Dupain-Cheng awoke with a headache. Just yesterday she had transformed into the superhero Ladybug and, along with her new partner Chat Noir, had saved Paris from the villain Hawkmoth for the first time.

"Tikki? Are you there?" She asked feebly, gesturing slowly with one arm.

The little red god raced up to her almost immediately.

"Oh Marinette," she said near her chosen's cheek, "I should have warned you this was going to happen."

"Tikki I feel awful."

"I know. This is your body reacting to transforming for the first time. You need to get plenty of food and water and you'll be very sore today."

"Shouldn't the Magic prevent this?" Marinette asked, confused.

Yesterday during the fight she had felt incredible, strong, and fast. Why was today any different?

"The magic of the Miraculous does enhance your physical abilities to a certain extent, but it uses the energy from your own body, which is very draining. So on top of having experienced a hard workout, you are also very drained. In time, you'll get stronger and your body will adjust, but you'll have to help it along a lot."

"How will this affect me when I'm Ladybug? I'll still be able to help people like I did yesterday, right?"

"Oh yes, the Miraculous' magic will make sure of that, but in the future, your suit won't be able to protect you as much as it did.

"Why is that?" Marinette asked as she slowly made her way to her closet, to get changed, cringing with every step.

Every muscle was so sore, especially those in her arms and core.

"Well, normally you aren't supposed to be protected as much as you were. But because it was your first time and you weren't trained, the Miraculous protected you from harm."

"Okay, so now I'm a newbie superhero and I won't be able to protect myself? Great!" Marinette said in o voice more over it than she had ever sounded before.

"Well, in the past, Ladybugs and Chat Noirs have trained together to become a stronger team. It's worked out pretty well." Tikki said.

"I still don't know how I feel about Chat Noir. But if you think that training together will make us a better team, then I'll ask him." Marinette oofed.

Later that morning, Marinette slogged into her seat at school, barley on time.

But what else was new?

Alya was freaking out about the new superheroes, as was seemingly everyone else. Luckily, Mademoiselle Bustier started class before the truly bizarre conspiracy theories could begin circulating.

Marinette took notes in a haze, barely noticing the tired slouch of the normally put-together boy in front of her.

It was a looong and onerous day before Marinette was able to speak with Tikki about her symptoms again.

"Do you think I should call Chat Noir and see if he wants to discuss this training we should start?" Marinette asked as she slogged through a history assignment.

"I think that's a great idea Marinette! You'll have to transform to access the communication device in your yo-yo, and Chat Noir won't see your message until he transforms as well." The small god chirped as she hovered above Marinette's tablet, fixing the many grammar errors in her essay.

"Okay. Tikki, Spots On!"

Transforming for the second time was slightly better and more fluid for Marinette, and she managed to stay upright.

The teenage hero fumbled with her yo-yo for a minute before she was able to stumble upon the call feature. As expected, she got Chat Noir's voicemail.

"Uh, hi Chat Noir, this is Ladybug. From what my kwami told me, you're probably feeling just as miserable as I am today. Tikki, that's my kwami's name, said that this is all normal but it would help us a lot to train and practice being superheroes together. Anyway, call me when you transform next, and we can work out the details. I'll talk to you soon. Bye!"

With that voicemail all finished, and not bothering to change out of her suit, Marinette flopped on her bed and accidentally fell asleep. The hero's impromptu nap only lasted about five minutes before a buzzing in her yo-yo woke her suddenly.

"Hello?" Ladybug answered groggily.

On the other side of the call, she swore she could hear yawning.

"Good evening M'lady. I just listened to your voicemail and I would love to not have to feel like this again. Training sounds purr-fect."

"So you're as dead as I am huh?" The spotted hero replied.

"Yeah. I really wish I knew just what I had signed up for yesterday. My kwami only seems to mention things after the fact. And all he eats is cheese! Not that I would want to give up being a hero or anything..." Chat Noir seemed hesitant, as if he still had something to add.

"But yesterday morning we woke up normal and now we have to protect all of Paris" Ladybug finished.

"Exactly. So how about that training?" Chat Noir suggested energetically.

"Yeah! It seems like a good idea, but where would we do it? And when? How do we balance being superheroes with our normal lives?" Ladybug asked.

"Well I know I want to take a nice catnap tonight. How about tomorrow? We could meet at the Eiffel Tower at 6:30 and maybe there's a warehouse that we could use at the edge of the city somewhere. As for balance, I think we'll have to figure it out as we go along." Chat Noir said.

_Wow, he seems to know what he's doing. I really admire that...I'll never be that confident._

"So 6:30 at the Eiffel Tower? I guess its a date then!" Replied the now impressed hero.

"Yeah its a date...I'll see you tomorrow M'Lady."

"haha, Goodnight Chaton"

With that, Chat Noir hung up and smiled.

_It might be just a figure of speech, but I wish it was a real date._

"Plagg, claws in."

The small god bounded out of Adrien's ring and went straight to the minifridge, which Adrien had stocked with cheese the night before.

"She's so amazing Plagg, I hope I don't disapoint her during our training session tomorrow. I really want to be a partner Ladybug can count on!" Said Adrien with conviction.

"Believe me kid, you won't disappiont her. Ladybugs and Black Cats always have the strongest bonds. In time you'll be great partners. Don't sweat it. You really should be making friends. That Nino kid is cool. And has that girl Marinette forgiven you yet? Maybe you should ask if everything is cool between you two tomorrow at school."

"You're right Plagg. I need to enjoy being a superhero and a civilian! I'm going to school to make friends and while I'm not wearing the mask, that will be my goal!"

Plagg snorted at the anime boy, who despite having sore muscles, was doing the most ridiculous pose on his couch.

"You watch too much TV kid. Now go to sleep. You'll need to rest up for tomorrow."


	2. New Beginnings

If Marinette could find a bright spot in her morning, it would have been a miracle. She had gotten about three hours of sleep in between tossing and turning to try and get comfortable in her bed with her sore muscles and agonizing over the Chat Noir training situation and trying to figure out her feelings for Adrien Agreste.

Needless to say, Marinette's day was not off to a good start. Tikki had recommended that she take a nice, warm shower around 5:30 am once it had become abundantly clear that Marinette would not be getting any more sleep. The shower did help, but Marinette was still sore and tired and she had forgotten to do her French history homework.

So in between doing her assignment, eating breakfast, and trying to find an outfit that wouldn't require her to lift her arms above her head to put on, Marinette was late for school. Again.

The tired teen ended up running and ruining any semblance of comfort her morning had brought her. Such was the life of a hero.

Adrien woke up under slightly different circumstances. He had stayed up until 4am reading any and all information about him and Ladybug online and promptly passed out face down on his bed, wherefrom he didn't move until his morning alarm went off.

Breakfast proved to be the real challenge.

Adrien sat down, sore but functioning, at the dining room table and looked down at his plate. Was it just him or did it seem really empty?

The boy had never been deprived of food in his life. The family chef had meal planned for the Agrestes well, and everyone had gotten the recommended amount of calories. Adrien had always had enough food to sustain him during fencing and to keep a good physique for photoshoots.

But that was before he had become a superhero.

The poor boy tried to eat slowly, he really did. But the food was so tasty this morning and he felt more hungry than he ever had in his life.

Nathalie looked rather shocked at the way her boy wolfed down his food.

"Adrien, you might want to slow down. You have been given an appropriate amount of time for breakfast and you won't be late."

The boy froze, the last forkful of egg on his plate almost to his mouth.

"I'm sorry for my lack of decorum Nathalie, but I'm really hungry today for some reason. Is there any way I could have some more for breakfast?"

Nathalie was surprised, but not unspeakably so. After all, a fourteen year old boy would be bound to experience some change in his appetite as he hit puberty.

Nevertheless, her job was to see Adrien to school on time.

"I don't think the chef will have the time to whip up more breakfast, but I'll see if there is an apple or a granola bar that you can eat on the way. I'll also let the chef know to adjust your meal sizes. You're a growing boy." Nathalie said, leaving her tablet for the boy to review the day's schedule and powerwalked toward the kitchen.

As soon as the coast was clear, Plagg popped out of Adrien's shirt pocket.

"Sorry kid, wielding a Miraculous comes with changes in appetite too. You'll really have to step up your diet to maintain your energy levels during and after transformations. You'll probably be putting on quite a bit of muscle on the next few months too." the small god said, not seeming very sorry at all.

"I'll get bigger?" Adrien asked, not hating the prospect.

"Well, you wont bulk up exactly, as you'll still need to remain pretty agile, but from what I see, you have some room to grow. Now is this Nathalie lady coming back with chese or wh-"

Plagg was shut up and stuffed in Adrien's pocket as he heard Nathalie's footsteps approach.

"Here's an apple and a protein shake Adrien, I hope they can sustain you until lunch." she said, setting the items down in front of her charge.

"This will be great, thanks Nathalie." replied Adrien, genuinely grateful.

Adrien's limo pulled up a few minutes early. He saw Nino listening to music out front and went to join his friend.

"Oh hey dude, how's it hanging?" Nino asked as he put his headphones around his neck.

"It's pretty good. My schedule is packed today though."

_I have fencing until 5:00 and I have to meet Ladybug for training at 6:30. That leaves an hour and a half to finish all of my homework!_

"Aw that sucks dude, but at least fencing is fun, right?"

"Yeah I guess I enjoy it. I do it more for exercise than for love of the sport, but sometimes drills can be cool."

_But I know that seeing my Lady will be the best part of my day by far!_

"Dude, is Marinette running late again? I swear she has never been to school on time that I can remember." Nino said, noticing said girl jogging on her way to Alya.

"I still feel bad about what happened the other day with Chloe and the gum. Should I talk to her and ask if we can be friends?" Asked Adrien as he saw Marinette come skidding to a stop and Alya laughing at her friend's winded state.

"Yeah that's a good idea dude, Marinette is a great girl once you get to know her. She just doesn't stand for bullying, especially not when Chloe is involved."

"Let's go talk to her then, before we have to go to class."

Marinette had found the bright spot in her morning! She had managed to stay conscious and upright after run-jogging to school on no sleep and with her exceedingly sore muscles. Besides, even if her entrance was less than graceful, at least Chloe wasn't around to see it and tease her for her clumsiness.

Alya, however, was a different story.

"Girl how did you manage to be late? The bell's going to ring in a few minutes!"

"Tired-no sleep-stress-homework this morning" Marinette said between pants as she bent down, hands on knees, to try and regain her breath.

"Hope you're not too tired. Adrien and Nino are coming this way."

"Oh that's nice..."

_I hope things aren't awkward between Adrien and I. I'm sorry for the way I jumped to conclusions and judged him before I knew him. Besides, he's cute._

"Hey dudettes. How are you?" Nino asked.

"Oh _I'm _fine. It's Marinette we should be worried about today." Alya replied, pointing her phone in Marinette's direction.

"Are you okay Marinette?" Adrien queried, concerned for his new friend

"I'm okay," began Marinette, who had finally come up for air, "Hey, thanks for lending me your umbrella yesterday. I'm sorry I didn't bring it back for you."

"Oh no, you can keep it. I didn't really need it yesterday anyway. I'm sorry about that gum misunderstanding the other day. Friends?" Adrien asked, holding out his hand.

"Yeah, friends." Marinette replied as she shook his hand.

_It's probably for the best that he wants to be just friends. Between being Ladybug and doing training with Chat Noir, I don't really have the time for a crush_

Just then, the bell rang, and all of the students outside of Francois-Dupont trooped in for their first class of the day.

Little did the teens know that two small sets of eyes that had been poking out of a shirt and a purse made eye contact, and thus two secrets were revealed that morning.

They would be the first of many.


	3. Whatever It Takes

Marinette was on fire. All day during class, she had felt both buzzed and incredibly slow, like electrically charged molasses. Classes seemed to drag on, but before Marinette knew it, she was leaving her last class in the afternoon. Alya couldn't hang out because she had to babysit and finish formatting the new LadyBlog, so Marinette went to the library and got all of her work done.

It was only five when Marinette got home, and she helped her _maman _set the table and enjoyed a nice meal with her family.

"Did you have enough for lunch this afternoon darling?" Sabine asked as Marinette took another portion of vegetables.

"-Not really? I had to rush breakfast to get to school and I didn't really have enough for lunch to make up for it."

Now that her mother had said something, Marinette noticed just how much she had eaten. This must have been an effect of the miraculous that Tikki had mentioned. At least today she had an excuse.

"My daughter can have as many vegetables as she needs. You're a growing girl after all." Chimed Tom, ever the supportive father.

"Okay _papa_"

After dinner, Marinette pretended that she was going to do some designing and go straight to bed, but she hardly had to lie to her parents. They got up very early to bake their pastries fresh each day and were always in bed before Marinette.

As 6:30 approached, Marinette became more and more anxious about training.

"Tikki I swear I'll be the worst Ladybug ever! What if I fall off the Eiffel tower and everyone sees me? What if Chat Noir thinks I'm not qualified?"

Tikki had been dealing with her own revelation all day. Marinette's classmate was Chat Noir. The Agreste boy! The small god thanked her lucky stars that Marinette hadn't developed feelings for him that went beyond the budding platonic ones she had. Imagine what a mess that situation would have been! Ladybug would have been turning down Chat Noir for Adrien, who was Chat Noir!

But what could she possibly tell Marinette? It was encouraged that Miraculous holders keep their identities a secret until the kwamis could judge whether or not the holders were trustworthy and stable. Usually the holders didn't even know each other in real life, but they forged a bond through the Miraculous. Adrien and Marinette went to school together! She had sat behind him in every class today and no doubt would tomorrow! And they were so young yet, it would be best to give them time to grow together.

The whole situation was very unconventional, and Tikki's instincts told her to see how it would play out before forcing a reveal.

"...Tikki? Are you listening?"

Tikki had spaced out, but recovered quickly.

"Marinette, you're a strong girl and I have no doubt that you'll grow to be an amazing Ladybug. All you have to do right now is go to training, run around a little bit to help you get used to the Miraculous, and get to know Chat Noir. You're partners, and in this for together for the good of Paris."

Tikki saw Marinette visibly relax.

"So, we don't have to fight or anything, right?" The young hero asked

"Well Marinette, later on as you learn what you're up against, it would be a good idea to practice sparring and some martial arts. Right now however, you and Chat Noir are just getting used to the physical strain the Miraculous puts on your bodies. You need to build tolerance and trust. I would suggest going for a run over Paris or playing a game. Have fun with it Marinette!" The small god tried to stay as positive as possible to help her holder relax.

"Okay, have fun. Got it. TIKKI, SPOTS ON!"

With that, Ladybug leapt from her window to the meeting place.

Adrien was surprisingly well-adjusted as he was doing his homework that evening. Fencing had been difficult to manage with his sore muscles, but Plagg had said that it would get better with time, so Adrien wasn't super worried on the impact the Miraculous would have on his normal life. (His fencing life, that is)

He was, however, a bit worried that his father would notice his absences. Well, that Natalie would notice his absences as Adrien barely saw his father twice a week anymore. What if he had to go be Chat Noir during a photo shoot? Or school? Adrien didn't know what he would say to get out of trouble. Besides, its not like he could just _not_ go and save Paris. But Adrien had never been one to lie before, would he have to start now?

That was yet another question he would have to figure out the answer to with Ladybug. And she was a whole other story.

From what little he knew about his partner, and the spotty answers he would get from Plagg, Adrien knew that his Lady was about his age, inexperienced (though that had been obvious), and frankly a bit scared by superhero life. When they had been fighting Stoneheart, there was a moment when Adrien thought he would never see Ladybug again. He knew now that she was just shy, and Plagg had said that it would be a good idea for Chat Noir to try and boost her confidence during training.

Adrien wasn't worried about Ladybug. She was probably the only thing in his life that he _wasn't _worried about. He knew that both of them had been chosen for a reason, and that their Kwamis and the magic of the Miraculous wouldn't steer them wrong.

The things that Adrien was worried about would either become more intense, or would fade as he learned more about his new role as Chat Noir. For now, Adrien was left with more questions than answers.

But he supposed that it was okay, because soon he would be having a blast with his Lady (he hoped she had a plan for training because he sure didn't) and he would be able to put his worries out of his mind. After all, the only thing he wasn't worried about was his Lady, and he was going to see her very soon.

" Plagg, CLAWS OUT!"

The newly-suited Chat Noir leapt from his window to the meeting place.

Miraculously, the heroes seemed to arrive to training at about the same time. Yo-yo'ing and pole-jumping were starting to come more naturally to Ladybug and Chat Noir respectively.

"Hello M'Lady, how has your day been?"

"Hello Chaton. I feel better than I did yesterday so that's saying something. How are you?"

Ladybug was surprised when her partner let out a groan.

"_Busy._ I think I'm going to have trouble balancing school, extracurriculars, and being a superhero. I'm also getting _paw-_sitively hungry these days."

Chat Noir felt a tiny bit awkward unloading on Ladybug, but he figured that maybe she could offer some advice? He was worried that maybe she would see him as some sort of crybaby, but then again it would also be a good idea if she knew what was going on in his life so they could maybe have a flexible schedule? At this point, Ladybug not thinking he was a total loser would be a success.

"O thank _goodness_," she responded, putting a hand on his shoulder, (hopefully he didn't think that was awkward), "I thought that I was going to be the only one! I don't have a massive amount of extracurriculars or anything, but what if an attack happens during school? And I'm eating more too! What's up with that?"

Adrien let out a sigh of relief. She felt the same way, It wasn't awkward, he was good. He did have an answer for her about the appetite problem though.

"I think we'll just have to find a way to slip away from school if that happens. Here's to hoping Hawkmoth works a 9 to 5 or something. But I do know why you're getting hungrier," at his partner's inquisitive look with those gorgeous bluebell eyes, he continued, "Plagg, my kwami, told me that we'll really need to step up our diets to keep up with the demands of the miraculous on our bodies."

Ladybug's face lit up.

"Oh that's what it is! I was worried I would get fat if I keep eating this way."

"Nope, my kwami said that it was completely normal. Maybe we could find a way to snack during training." Chat suggested, not liking the idea of his lady feeling bad about herself or her new calorie requirements.

"Well, I do live close to a bakery, so maybe I could bring us some stuff in the future." Ladybug suggested.

"I wouldn't want you to have to spend all that money on snacks though." Chat said.

"Oh nonsense, I can get the stuff that wasn't sold that day for free. This is going to be great! Now about training."

Chat came alert, giving a mock salute, which Ladybug giggled at.

"Aye-aye M'Lady, what's the plan?"

Ladybug laughed again, bringing a smile to Chat's face.

"Well I was thinking maybe we could just go for a run or something? Play a game? Tikki said that we should take it slow to get our bodies used to the Miraculous."

The smile that was on Chat's face turned into a smirk, and Ladybug started to think that something was up. She saw almost in slow motion as Chat stepped forward and tapped her shoulder. She felt his breath on her ear as he whispered.

"Well in that case. Tag, you're it."

The world sped up as Ladybug saw her partner getting away as fast as his entry-level pole vaulting skills would allow him to. Ladybug knew what was happening within seconds.

"GET BACK HERE YOU SILLY CAT."


End file.
